Vikings women’s basketball: slowly but surely
Coming off a win the Viks hope to jump start their shaky season
Kashea Kilson-Anderson
kasheak@vg.pdx.edu
The Women’s basketball team scored their first victory of the season this past weekend at the North Star Invitational. The win came after a depressing three-game losing streak.
The Vikings placed third at the Third Annual North Star Invitational by defeating the Bears from Morgan State on Saturday. The win could be a new beginning for the Vikings.
The Vikings started off their weekend by facing the undefeated Black Nights of the Army this past Friday. The Black Knights came out triumphant in the first half of the game by leading the Vikings 10-0 in the beginning of the half and ending the half with a lead of 29-24. The Army led the first half without the Viks ever taking a lead.
Portland State gave the Army a good run for their money during the second half of the game as they managed to take a 34 – 33 lead temporarily. The Black Knights shut the Vikings down soon afterwards with a 13 – 0 run. The Black Knights eventually won the game 69 – 55. The Army later on, went to win the North Star Invitational by defeating Alaska Fairbanks 77 – 52
The Vikings finally redeemed themselves by beating Morgan State. The Vikings played an impressive game, shooting 59 percent from the field and out rebounding Morgan State 41 – 23. Senior, Sarah Hegdepeth showed great heart during the game by scoring twenty points and grabbing 11 of the team’s 41 rebounds. Viking sophomore guard Tiffanie Ward scored 10 points and had a career high f nine rebounds.
In the last 1:42 in the first half, and Hegdepeth ran wild on the court scoring 8 points to make the score 34 – 25 at the break. At one point in the game, the Lady Bears held the lead at 13 – 12 and might have held the lead if not for a Viking score on a fast break spurred on by a stolen ball.
The Viks are going to have their home opening game this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. against Oregon State University. The Beavers have had a fairly good season so far. The have win/loss record of 3 – 2 and a loss would definitely hurt their team as well as give Portland State the rights to gloat about winning against their interstate rivals.
The Vikings will have to bring the same type of game that the brought to Morgan State this past Saturday. The key tot heir victory is to get an early advantage and make Oregon State play to the Viking’s set speed and playing pattern. If not, the Vikings might suffer a little bit of an ego bashing and will have to live with an embarrassing win/loss record.